Real Madrid center back Eder Miltiao played out of his mind at the end of the 2020-2021 season when Los Blancos needed him the most. The young center back started alongside Nacho Fernandez when both Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos were injured. For that period of time in which he started, he was Real’s best center back of the season. And that’s saying something, given that Varane was solid, Nacho was fabulous, and Ramos was outright outrageous in the opening months of the campaign.
Madridistas were hopeful that Militao would build on his performances for the 2021-2022 season, with both Varane and Ramos moving to different elite European clubs.
He has done exactly that.
Here are three reasons why Eder Militao is the latest Real Madrid player to assert himself as untouchable in the lineup and on the transfer market.
Eder Militao actively cleans up danger
With Raphael Varane now at Manchester United – and as good as ever, I might add – it became crucial for Eder Militao to fill one of the many roles vacated by the Frenchman. So often, Varane was there to mop up loose balls or dangerous through passes that got behind the other defenders. It would even lead to him being scapegoated, because he would often be the only player in the vicinity of a breakaway attack.
Militao has been fantastic at getting to passes that other defenders can’t quite cut out. Last weekend against Valencia, Miltiao made a couple of interventions when David Alaba failed to clear properly. He also had a great play in which he stuck out his arm to prevent a Valencia attacker from having a clean strike at Thibaut Courtois’ goal.
The Brazilian central defender is active, alert, and assured defensively. He makes sure Real don’t fluff things up, and that allows Alaba to be more aggressive in his contributions to the team’s build-up play.
He is no slouch on the ball himself
David Alaba has years of elite-level experience at multiple positions. Since he was a world-class left back for damn near a decade and has shown sublime quality in midfield at times, it is a luxury to have him at center back where he can charge forward or spray exquisite, threatening passes.
Next to him, Eder Militao has not looked out of place, though. Yes, Alaba is clearly the more inventive of the two, but Militao’s own numbers are pretty impressive for a center back. According to WhoScored.com, the 23-year-old is completing 90.8 percent of his passes in LaLiga, ranking him among the best in Spanish football. He also completed 86 percent of his passes in the Champions League win over Inter Milan.
Militao is averaging nearly 60 passes per game this season, too, meaning he is touching the ball frequently and yet rarely making mistakes. Outside of one poor backpass on Matchday 1 against Deportivo Alaves, which was an easy 4-1 win for Real Madrid anyway, I have not counted a significant error from the former FC Porto man.
In addition, Militao is averaging more than a foul drawn per game and has come close to scoring great goals on a few occasions. Militao is a real threat from set pieces, as we saw last season, too. He brings a quality skill-set on the ball and is not uncomfortable with progressing the play forward. If we were to compare him to Varane on that right-hand side, for example, Militao has been more assured in possession than the legendary French center back. So that is very much a feather in Militao’s cap.
His actual defending is borderline world-class
I am not willing to proclaim that a 23-year-old without a full year of starting experience is world-class, but I am willing to say that we have seen enough evidence to say that Eder Militao is well on his way to earning this distinction if he keeps it up. After some good games before 2020-2021, Militao was downright brilliant last season and has been solid in 2021-2022.
Militao dropped a masterclass against Lautaro Martinez and Inter Milan in a clean sheet victory despite having no real help from the midfield. He even had three blocks! Militao has not had issues in LaLiga either, averaging a combined 3.5 tackles and interceptions per game with 2.3 clearances per game. The man has only been dribbled past 0.5 times per match, too, even though he is frequently making interventions.
It’s fair to say that Militao does it all defensively. When you factor in his age and upside, it’s quite clear that Real Madrid are not interested in any sort of offers for him, nor would they have any reason to take him out of the lineup. He is already one of their two best center backs. Alaba has earned the praise he is getting from Madridistas, but if we are just purely talking about defensive qualities, Militao is the best defender on this team. Unless Ferland Mendy comes back from his injury and is lights-out at center back, I am not even sure this is up for discussion.